Today In Wrestling History – January 28th

1991- Paul Bearer (Percy Pringle) made his WWF debut as the manager of the Undertaker at a taping of WWF Main Event

2002 – During an edition of WWF Raw from the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia, Vince McMahon revealed that if Ric Flair didn’t sell his half of the WWF to him, he would be forced to “inject the poison” into his “creation” and bring in the NWO. This set the stage for the first appearances of Kevin Nash & Scott Hall since 1995 in the then-WWF & Hulk Hogan’s return for the first time since June 1993

Dark Match:
– JTG (with Shad Gaspar) defeated Lance Cade (with Trevor Murdoch)PPV:
– The Hardys (Jeff & Matt) defeated MNM (Johnny Nitro & Joey Mercury) (with Melina)
– Bobby Lashley defeats Test by countout to retain the ECW Title
– Batista defeats Mr Kennedy to retain the World Heavyweight Title
– John Cena defeats Umaga (with Armando Alejandro Estrada) in a Last Man Standing Match to retain the WWE Title
– The Undertaker wins the Royal Rumble, last eliminating Shawn Michaels. A number of records fell in this Rumble. The Undertaker was the first man to win after entering at number 30, Kane set the record for most appearances (11) & most consecutive appearances (9) whilst the record for most men involved in an elimination also fell after it took 8 men to eliminate Viscera

2011 – Ring of Honor ran Los Angeles, CA as part of WrestleReunion at the Hilton LAX. I was at this event:

*Of note: Current WWE Star Edge was backstage at this event, as he was in town to work on a WWE film, & was staying at the same hotel.

1988 – The World Class Texas Tag Team Title was held up following a controversial match between champions John Tatum & Jack Victory and challengers The Fantastics. The belts were held up, and the dispute was settled several weeks later, believe it or not, when the teams drew from a deck of cards. Victory and Tatum drew the high card, so they got the belts back

On this day in 2006, the wrestling world lost former WCW wrestler ‘The Machine’ Emory Hale aged just 36. Hale was a baseball player growing up, and had a trial with the Baltimore Orioles, though failed to make the cut. Jimmy Hart brought him into WCW in 1998, with the aim of grooming him to be the next ‘big man star’ of the promotion, though he never made it to main event status. He is perhaps best remembered for his brief stint as ‘The Machine’, a character taken directly from the movie ’8MM’, even though the gimmick failed to get over. He followed Hart and Hogan to the XWF, but was forced to leave the wrestling business in the early 2000s after developing kidney problems. He underwent kidney transplant surgery in 2003, however, the procedure was unsuccessful and his health continued to deteriorate until he died of kidney disease (the official diagnosis, to my knowledge, has never been revealed)